South West Region Secretary / Manager Golf Day ? 17th April

Club News : South West Region Secretary / Manager Golf Day ? 17th April

Long Sutton were represented by Andrew and Vanessa at the South West Region Secretary / Manager Golf day at Ferndown Golf Club yesterday (17th April), hosted by Sports Publications Ltd - producers and distributors of National Club Golfer and Lady Golfer magazines. 13 clubs attended from across the region.

The day was in two parts - a presentation on the benefits the magazines could bring to Clubs, promotional services available (video production etc) and the new Golf Genius software and app which could be used for running opens and society/corporate days, followed by a betterball pairs competition.

Teams were encouraged to use the app to log scores, upload photos during the round and access the live leaderboard. The app received very mixed reviews and raised lots of questions. While it was very easy to use and fun to be able to see the leaderboard and track your progress (see photo), it obviously means having to use your phone - something which has generally been discouraged on the golf course. Would players want the possible distraction of message alerts? As cards would still have to be marked, would using the app slow down play? What would happen if the app crashed part way through a society day? Generally, the feedback suggested it would be like marmite – you’d either love it or hate it. It will be interesting to see how much take up there is.

Although we both agreed our short games left a lot to be desired (chipping into a bunker was definitely not part of my plan!), we were pleased to come 2nd out of 15 pairs with a very respectable 41 points – our first trip to Ferndown and an enjoyable and informative day.